The Department of Education (DOE) implemented a new Chancellor’s Regulation on Monday, June 29 that prohibits students from selling any items not approved by the DOE from the time school starts until six p.m.

According to Chancellor’s Regulation A-812, the purpose of the policy is to “conform to the Department of Education’s Wellness Policy and initiatives to improve the quality and nutritional value of foods and beverages that are available for children.”

“The concern is that so many students are a little too heavy, and [bake sales] of course contribute to it,” Principal Stanley Teitel said. “They’re disapproving anything not from food services.”

Prior to the Chancellor’s Regulation, bake sales helped clubs raise extra money for the school year. However, with the new policy in place, these clubs will have to turn to the Student Union (SU) to supply the money they would have earned from the bake sales. According to Teitel, the only group that is allowed to hold bake sales is the Parents’ Association (PA), but they may only do so once per month during PA meetings. The purpose of these bake sales is to fundraise, and the food will mainly be served to parents.

To compensate for the loss of bake sales, the SU has revised its funding policy for clubs.

“This year, we are also going to ask clubs and pubs to submit a financial statement of how much money they had requested from the SU, and how much money they had raised from selling food or snacks in the school,” SU President Paul Lee said. “[That way] we can take a look at how much money the club requires to be run and then try to find different ways to alleviate financial costs for the club.”

However, even though the SU will be responsible for most club funding, it will not receive any extra money from Teitel. According to Lee, the SU will instead have to do more fundraising itself by selling items such as advantage cards and t-shirts.

“We’re going to be getting a lot more requests, and our normal requests are going to be a lot higher than they usually are,” SU Chief Financial Officer Rosanna Sobota said. “Luckily, [...] we still have a decent amount to allocate [from last year], but it’s going to be more difficult and we’re going to have to be a little bit more mindful of all of the requests before we grant money.”

“We have a set SU budget [...] and we’ll deal with that,” Lee said. “All we ask is for the [clubs and pubs] to be honest so that we can meet every club’s requirements.”

Students, however, have expressed concerns over the new policy.

“It’s unreasonable because clubs need their funding, and the SU won’t provide as much, especially with the budget cuts,” senior Chris Yeung said. “Besides, cutting down a few bake sales won’t make a difference. If people want to eat, they’re going to eat some way or another.”

Junior Aditya Vijay agreed that budget cuts are only worsening the problem. “I don’t know how Teitel expects clubs and pubs to compensate for losing another source of fundraising,” he said.

For senior and treasurer of the Asian Culture Club Beatriz Malibiran, however, the loss of bake sales will not severely impact funding.

“You can’t attribute [lack of funds] to the [loss of] bake sales,” she said. “It isn’t like bake sales really reach a lot of people anyway.”